26 th June 2023
Own Correspondent
By working together and pooling their expertise, Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) and National Agricultural Research and Development Institute (NARDI), expect to be better positioned to make contributions in the pursuit of value chain development say officials.
“Government remains committed to supporting research institutions because we know that not much can be achieved by Government alone without the contribution of think tanks like yourselves. The challenges we face today as a country, especially that of unemployment, especially of the youth, requires all of us to double up our efforts and come up with new and more innovative ways of tackling them,” said Fidelis Macdonald Molao, Minister of Agriculture.
He said, “I, like many in this country, will be eagerly waiting to witness the fruits of this newly established relationship and its benefits to Batswana. I therefore declare the partnership officially launched. Congratulations to BIDPA and NARDI for taking this huge step.”
NARDI was founded in 2015 under the Ministry of Agriculture, as a registered company out of a merger between the Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), the National Food Technology Research Centre (NFTRC), and the National veterinary Laboratory (NVL).
NARDI has 10 Ranches around the country. These are experimental sites and research stations. BIDPA on the other hand was established in 1995 through a Deed of Trust and housed under the Ministry of Finance. BIDPA was a partnership between the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the Government of Botswana.
“The Government of Norway provided the first grant and a Founding Chief Executive Officer. Following the rationalization of State-owned enterprises undertaken in the last few years, BIDPA has now been relocated from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of State President,” said Molao.
He said, “BIDPA has five research units; namely the Environment, Agriculture and Natural Resources; The Trade, Industry and Private Sector Development; the Macro Economics and Development Unit; the Human and Social Development and lastly, the Governance and Administration Unit. Both these two institutions produce knowledge products.”
Officials maintain think tanks similar to BIDPA and NARDI, act as brokers of knowledge in transmitting knowledge between researchers, government, the private sector, and civil society. Think tanks conduct policy research and generate ideas on how to solve societal problems.
“Their research products inform policy formulation, meaning that through think tanks, researchers are connected to policymakers,” said Molao.
Government has an ambitious agenda to transition from the current upper-middle income to a high income country by 2036. It has led to a rationalization of state-owned enterprises to ensure among other benefits, that all State-Owned Enterprises are aligned to the government transformation program, and exercise which is still on-going. There was also a need to ensure that there is no duplication of mandates, and that the silo mentality of the past is ended.
